Stay at Home Moms

S/O Inappropriate TV - especially if your kid is school aged

Mrs.HizzoMrs.Hizzo member
edited March 2014 in Stay at Home Moms
Am I the only one who feels sort of ripped off when it comes to being so hyper-vigilant about what I let my kids watch when they were little? Because as soon as my oldest started kindergarten last fall, he came home saying and doing at least half the stuff I've tried so hard to avoid in the past. Public school for the win! It apparently corrupts faster than Sponge Bob!

ETA - I'm not literally saying that Sponge Bob corrupts. Just making the point that all the stuff I haven't liked in certain shows and wouldn't let my kids watch for so long was learned from other kids in, like, one recess. So I'm not sure why I bothered.

Re: S/O Inappropriate TV - especially if your kid is school aged

  • My kid watches sponge bob, and has for many years.
    So I'm probably not qualified for this question ;)
    E+C
    (+ hers and his, ages 13 & 8)
    TTC
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  • All bets are off once they get to elementary school.  My kids didn't watch shows like that until they hit elem school and they heard about them from all of their friends.  Peer pressure is huge and tv shows are the last thing I'm worried about them learning from their friends/classmates. 
  • cjcouple said:
    Definitely not the one who should answer this. I have always been laid back about shows. I felt it was more important to teach them not to repeat and copy vs censoring too much. obviously I don't let them have a free for all but I have let them watch movies that are not at their age level. Star Wars, ghost busters, jurrassic parks, superman. they have a few swears. but my boys are great. I just tell them not to repeat bad words. (over and over. lol) so I didn't really have much learned behavior coming home after they started school. well, my lo is still prek so I may eat my words. I am not too worried since he is less impressionable but who knows.
    This is me, exactly :)
    E+C
    (+ hers and his, ages 13 & 8)
    TTC
  • I have been vigilant about the shows that use language I don't want my kids to repeat. Things like calling names and using words like idiot, moron and stupid have been banned in our house. I have always explained to them why we don't watch a particular show or why mommy is changing the channel. I've relaxed this as DD has gotten older for exactly the reasons you listed. She hears all this and more at school. All I can hope is that the discussions of why we don't call people these names has had an impact. So far, so good, but she's only 5.5. We'll see. I don't think it was all for nothing, but eventually they will talk like their friends. Hopefully I've delayed some name calling as long as possible.

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    C  7.16.2008 | L  11.12.2010 | A  3.18.2013

     

  • I am team CJ on this. While I don't let them watch R or PG 13 rated movies I really let them watch a lot. My kids like sponge Bob. It is stupid but there is really nothing wrong with it per se. TV is not some huge learning time in our house. It is a time to kick back and relax. My kids don't say anything more inappropriate than dumb. Sure they learn things at school try to use it once and I put the smack down. At this age I still easily have control over my kids way more so than the tv.
  • Lol at no potty humor. My kid pocked it up in preschool at three. Potty humor is almost lit a rite of passage for little boys. Do I like it? No but really a kid laughing at the word butt or fart is not something I can get up in arms about.
  • Lol at no potty humor. My kid pocked it up in preschool at three. Potty humor is almost lit a rite of passage for little boys. Do I like it? No but really a kid laughing at the word butt or fart is not something I can get up in arms about.

    I HATE it and since I live in a house of all males, I try to avoid it as much as possible.
    However , last week DS1 was doing his homework, and he had to fill out a fiction chart over a book he read called Little Bat. He wrote Little But ( on purpose) and laughed hysterically because he wrote but. I didn't have the heart to tell him he needed to add a T... ;)
  • cjcouple said:
    Definitely not the one who should answer this. I have always been laid back about shows. I felt it was more important to teach them not to repeat and copy vs censoring too much. obviously I don't let them have a free for all but I have let them watch movies that are not at their age level. Star Wars, ghost busters, jurrassic parks, superman. they have a few swears. but my boys are great. I just tell them not to repeat bad words. (over and over. lol) so I didn't really have much learned behavior coming home after they started school. well, my lo is still prek so I may eat my words. I am not too worried since he is less impressionable but who knows.

    I don't know if I necessarily buy into this line of thinking. I grew up with a parent who smoked, yelled and cussed a lot. He always said "do as I say, not as I do". Yeah, I was the kid sneaking cigarettes at 11, cussing all the time (though I was smart enough not to get caught) and was a yeller until I made a very conscious decision to ditch the habit because I wanted my kids to handle their emotions in better ways. I think kids learn more from what they see vs what they are told by their parents so I don't want to normalize bad behavior and language. I realize all bets are off once they're school age (and heck I'm already learning this at preschool with ds) but I'd really like to give them as good a start as possible.
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  • Hav=Fath said:


    bhuffman said:

    Lol at no potty humor. My kid pocked it up in preschool at three. Potty humor is almost lit a rite of passage for little boys. Do I like it? No but really a kid laughing at the word butt or fart is not something I can get up in arms about.

    I HATE it and since I live in a house of all males, I try to avoid it as much as possible.
    However , last week DS1 was doing his homework, and he had to fill out a fiction chart over a book he read called Little Bat. He wrote Little But ( on purpose) and laughed hysterically because he wrote but. I didn't have the heart to tell him he needed to add a T... ;)

    I guess you don't have the book "Walter the Farting Dog" then, huh? I bought it for my god-son and he thought it was THE most awesome book ever.

    Ha! No, but I know what you are talking about! I bet he did love it!!
  • DC2London said:
    But that's my point, exactly: they WILL pick it up from other kids.  Probably sooner than I would like.  When they start saying things like "stupid" or "shut up" we will have a conversation about why those words are banned in our family.  But as far as potty humor, it's just part of life.  They will make farting noises and talk about butts and laugh hysterically at poop jokes....but I'm not going to tell that that that is against the rules.  It's obnoxious, but it's not harmful or hurtful.  So I am enjoying these few precious months/years of peace before I have to deal with all of that.  They'll bring it home from school. I don't need to invite it into our home via Spongebob, which I consider to be pretty much the worst show on television.

    We didn't let our kids watch it that young either. They do now, but it is no worse than what they hear at school. I absolutely controlled more of what they watched when they were younger, now they get it all at school anyway. I also don't consider potty humor bad.
  • Hav=Fath said:
    KC_13 said:
    cjcouple said:
    Definitely not the one who should answer this. I have always been laid back about shows. I felt it was more important to teach them not to repeat and copy vs censoring too much. obviously I don't let them have a free for all but I have let them watch movies that are not at their age level. Star Wars, ghost busters, jurrassic parks, superman. they have a few swears. but my boys are great. I just tell them not to repeat bad words. (over and over. lol) so I didn't really have much learned behavior coming home after they started school. well, my lo is still prek so I may eat my words. I am not too worried since he is less impressionable but who knows.

    I don't know if I necessarily buy into this line of thinking. I grew up with a parent who smoked, yelled and cussed a lot. He always said "do as I say, not as I do". Yeah, I was the kid sneaking cigarettes at 11, cussing all the time (though I was smart enough not to get caught) and was a yeller until I made a very conscious decision to ditch the habit because I wanted my kids to handle their emotions in better ways. I think kids learn more from what they see vs what they are told by their parents so I don't want to normalize bad behavior and language. I realize all bets are off once they're school age (and heck I'm already learning this at preschool with ds) but I'd really like to give them as good a start as possible.
    I also came from a family that was full of smoking, drinking beer (to the point of excess in a bad way), cussing etc and I didn't do a single one of those things, not ONE. I didn't say my first cuss word until I was out of high school... because my mom made sure we knew it wasn't acceptable (my dad did all that stuff, she didn't) so, your argument can't be used across the board. 

    Well of course nothing is true across the board 100% of the time but there's certainly the correlation. Hence why people who were spanked as kids statistically are much more likely to spank their own kids, people who grow up with obese parents are much more likely to be obese adults, etc. History tends to repeat itself.
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  • cjcouple said:

    KC_13 said:
    cjcouple said:
    Definitely not the one who should answer this. I have always been laid back about shows. I felt it was more important to teach them not to repeat and copy vs censoring too much. obviously I don't let them have a free for all but I have let them watch movies that are not at their age level. Star Wars, ghost busters, jurrassic parks, superman. they have a few swears. but my boys are great. I just tell them not to repeat bad words. (over and over. lol) so I didn't really have much learned behavior coming home after they started school. well, my lo is still prek so I may eat my words. I am not too worried since he is less impressionable but who knows.

    I don't know if I necessarily buy into this line of thinking. I grew up with a parent who smoked, yelled and cussed a lot. He always said "do as I say, not as I do". Yeah, I was the kid sneaking cigarettes at 11, cussing all the time (though I was smart enough not to get caught) and was a yeller until I made a very conscious decision to ditch the habit because I wanted my kids to handle their emotions in better ways. I think kids learn more from what they see vs what they are told by their parents so I don't want to normalize bad behavior and language. I realize all bets are off once they're school age (and heck I'm already learning this at preschool with ds) but I'd really like to give them as good a start as possible.




    stuck in quotes



    But "I" don't model that behavior. I also don't just dictate in that way.  Do as I say, not as I do is one of the stupidest (yes I said stupid) things you can try and say to a child.  Of course that doesn't work!

    BUT people around us do model poor habits and I use them as examples of why they should not.  For example: 

    My MIL and FIL both smoke, I talk to my kids about WHY they smoke, how they are addicted and cannot stop even though they want to.  I encourage them to ask questions of myself, DH and my IL's.  I have also shown my oldest what a healthy vs smokers lung looks like. I talk about their poor health and that the reason MIL and FIL cannot run around and play tag is because their lungs are damaged.   

    Same with swearing, I don't just say "don't do that". It is a long process of reasoning.       


    I don't know--I feel like television is very powerful and motivating for kids and if what they're viewing is normalizing using mean language to peers that can carry over to real life. It just seems like an unnecessary risk especially with the much younger crowd where there's such a large variety of programming more positive.
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  • Lol at no potty humor. My kid pocked it up in preschool at three. Potty humor is almost lit a rite of passage for little boys. Do I like it? No but really a kid laughing at the word butt or fart is not something I can get up in arms about.
    What is it with potty humor and little boys?  We do not ever use potty humor in the house.  We don't watch any shows with potty humor.  Yet, DS's finds it hilarious to pretend to fart on us.  It has to come from preschool or some weird developmental thing.

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  • We don't do Sponge Bob because he's annoying.    We definitely eased up on what we let them watch now that they're older.  I prefer them to watch something with some redeeming value to it.
    Potty humor is so little boys.  We're working on when it is appropriate to use potty humor and when it is not.  When they're getting too silly about it, we send them to the bathroom with their jokes.  

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  • cjcouple said:

    My former coworker gave my boys a book. Mannekin Pis a story about a boy who literally pisses on a war.  I seriously choked on my coffee when I read it.   

    There is an actual statue of a little boy peeing called Mannequin Pis in Belgium! I have a picture of myself in front of it :)
    image
    DS 3.12.08
    DD 7.11.09
    DD 8.01.13
  • Yes but I forget the story lol
    image
    DS 3.12.08
    DD 7.11.09
    DD 8.01.13
  • I guess we're the special snowflake, but DD didn't watch anything similar to Spongebob {I decided if my cokehead friends watched it in college, my kids would not} and once she got to school it turns out she wasn't the only one not watching it. She really hasn't picked up any behavior at school that I'm annoyed by. She's a smartass, but that came from me. We've never had an issue with bad words {we are a do as I say, not as I do house}, potty talk or anything similar coming home from school or starting here. We're lucky I guess. There are still shows she's not allowed to watch at almost 10...but she's seen almost every Bond movie. Go figure.
  • IcjtIcjt member
    We don't watch SpongeBob, because I find it annoying. I am much more lax now than when my oldest was little. Bent she was one who went to school picked up the bad words quickly. So I started teaching not got say those things instead. There are still shows they can't watch, and shows we take a break from if they can't control themselves.
    Mom to I (May 2001), C (Jan. 2004), J (Aug 2006), T (2012)
  • We don't do Sponge Bob because I find him annoying as hell and don't want my kids into him. But neither of my kids has come home from school suddenly wanting to watch things because classmates do. Maybe it will start at some point, but right now we're not there.

    I have a short list of shows we avoid because they annoy me and I can't deal with them. Spongebob is one, Barney is another, Yo Gabba Gabba is also on the list. It was also easier to avoid all but Barney since until last year we didn't have cable, so even if they wanted to watch the rest of those shows we didn't have access to them.
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  • edited March 2014
    gwapes said:
    Hav=Fath said:
    gwapes said:
    Why/how does Spongebob corrupt?
    While I think it's silly personally, my BF quit letting her son (he was 4-5 at the time) watch SpongeBob because it made him act too silly. I tried telling her I thought it was more because he was 4 years old, but I'm not the mom. 

    We don't watch Sponge Bob but it's because she isn't into it, not because it's not educational. 
    I find it absolutely irritating. His voice... ick. But, I don't know that I would say it corrupts? Just curious, maybe I haven't watched it enough. I'm OK with that. 
    I heard someone say before it is corrupt because they live in a place called "Bikini Bottom" and the characters are not very bright.
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  • Hav=Fath said:
    cjcouple said:
    We don't do Sponge Bob because I find him annoying as hell and don't want my kids into him. But neither of my kids has come home from school suddenly wanting to watch things because classmates do. Maybe it will start at some point, but right now we're not there.

    I have a short list of shows we avoid because they annoy me and I can't deal with them. Spongebob is one, Barney is another, Yo Gabba Gabba is also on the list. It was also easier to avoid all but Barney since until last year we didn't have cable, so even if they wanted to watch the rest of those shows we didn't have access to them.
    Barney is annoying but he has some GREAT lessons.
    Yo Gabba Gabba is too, they have a whole song called "Don't, don't, donnnn't bite your friends!"


    Do you really need a song to teach that?
  • My college roommate would watch it after smoking a joint so I associate it to that. Its like generational Bevis and Butthead.
  • cjcouple said:
    We don't do Sponge Bob because I find him annoying as hell and don't want my kids into him. But neither of my kids has come home from school suddenly wanting to watch things because classmates do. Maybe it will start at some point, but right now we're not there.

    I have a short list of shows we avoid because they annoy me and I can't deal with them. Spongebob is one, Barney is another, Yo Gabba Gabba is also on the list. It was also easier to avoid all but Barney since until last year we didn't have cable, so even if they wanted to watch the rest of those shows we didn't have access to them.
    Barney is annoying but he has some GREAT lessons.
    He very well may. I've never watched him long enough to see. Nails on a chalkboard to me, same as YGG. My girls know to change the channel immediately if either comes on. 
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  • I should add that I'm not really a TV person myself so I don't have it on much for the kids. Not because I'm actively keeping them from it, just not my thing. Other than The Daily Show I often go weeks or months without turning the TV on.
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  • Hav=Fath said:


    bhuffman said:

    Lol at no potty humor. My kid pocked it up in preschool at three. Potty humor is almost lit a rite of passage for little boys. Do I like it? No but really a kid laughing at the word butt or fart is not something I can get up in arms about.

    I HATE it and since I live in a house of all males, I try to avoid it as much as possible.
    However , last week DS1 was doing his homework, and he had to fill out a fiction chart over a book he read called Little Bat. He wrote Little But ( on purpose) and laughed hysterically because he wrote but. I didn't have the heart to tell him he needed to add a T... ;)

    I guess you don't have the book "Walter the Farting Dog" then, huh? I bought it for my god-son and he thought it was THE most awesome book ever.

    Walter the Farting Dog?? I so need to get that book for SFIL....they call him Walter (not his name....I don't get it either) and, well, he farts a lot. :-p

     image
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